The University Teachers Union (大学教員組合 – ''Daigaku Kyouin Kumiai'') was founded in January 1999 and represents the interests of tertiary-level teachers in the

Kanto region Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokém ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Membership is open to any teacher, regardless of nationality, who is employed at a university, college, or post-graduate institution in a non-management post. Under Japanese Trade Union Law, the University Teachers Union has the right to conduct

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

with schools on behalf of its members. While negotiations with

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

are conducted in Japanese, internal business is mostly conducted in English.

Affiliations

Although the University Teachers Union (UTU) describes itself as a union, it is in fact a branch of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu (全国一般労働組合東京南部 – ''Zenkoku Ippan Roudou Kumiai Tokyo Nambu''), a trade union usually referred to as NUGW Tokyo Nambu or just ''Nambu''. Nambu is a member of the NUGW National Council ( 全国一般労働組合全国協議会 ''Zenkoku Ippan Roudou Kumiai Zenkoku Kyogikai''), a national

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

for 39 trade unions, commonly known in English by its shortened title: the National Union of General Workers. NUGW National Council is in turn affiliated to National Trade Union Council (全国労働組合連絡協議会 – ''Zenrokyo''), the smallest of the three national labour federations in Japan. Within the NUGW National Council, UTU works closely with two of Nambu's sister unions which have a high proportion of foreign members: the

General Union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gen ...

and the Fukuoka General Union. UTU also works closely with the Union of Part-Time Lecturers (非常勤講師組合 – ''Hijoukin Koushi Kumiai''), a union established in 1996, with roughly 200 members. The Union of Part-Time Lecturers is affiliated to the second largest labour federation, the National Confederation of Trade Unions (全国労働組合総連合 – ''Zenroren''), and conducts its business in Japanese.

Aims

As a labour organization, UTU works towards the improvement and maintenance of working conditions, the improvement of the general working environment and employee welfare, and cooperation with other organizations that have similar objectives. UTU’s policies aim to realize: * The creation of working environments in which professionalism and quality education are promoted * A level of job security and stability which allows instructors to concentrate more on students' needs and research and less on issues of personal welfare * The elimination of discrimination based on race, age, gender, sexual orientation or national origin * The elimination of discrimination between different fields of education (such as that between lecture and so-called 'skills' classes).

Surveys

In 2004, UTU carried out a Survey of Foreign Nationals at Japanese Universities. The survey was compiled and published in collaboration with the Tokyo area Union of Part-Time Lecturers. The concerns used to formulate the survey were: * The lack of equivalent contracts for Japanese and foreign workers. * That foreigners’ contributions to education in Japan and their academic achievements were not being acknowledged. * That difficulties facing foreigners in language, residence and visa administration were not being understood and properly taken into account by the universities. * That foreigners and Japanese were not receiving the same benefits from the national pension system. Questions concerned, among other issues: tenure and contracts, visa status, health insurance and pension, unemployment insurance, language, and housing. Analysis of responses from 330 foreign university instructors showed discriminatory treatment by universities in many of these matters. The Survey Report was submitted to the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, the Ministry of Labour and Welfare, and the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

at a meeting with lawmakers and officials on 8 March 2005. UTU also contributed to a 2005 national survey of the conditions of part-time university lecturers, in conjunction with the Union of Part-Time Lecturers Kansai, Union of Part-Time Lecturers Tokyo Area,

, and Fukuoka General Union.

Campaigns and actions

In 2007, as part of a campaign to maintain and improve working conditions, UTU launched a petition against outsourcing (the use of agency workers to reduce the labour costs of direct employment), a practice that continues to threaten the security of university teachers. In 2006 and 2007, with the support of

and the Union of Part-Time Lecturers, UTU hosted forums and workshops in Tokyo to provide opportunities for college and university teachers to share experiences, and to explore ways to protect jobs, defend educational standards and improve working conditions on campus. In 2008, UTU supported

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Japan and

Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (移住者と連帯する全国ネットワーク ''Ijūsha to Rentai suru Zenkoku Nettowāku''), abbreviated as SMJ (移住連 ''Ijūren''), is a non-partisan advocacy organization and umbrella of migrant int ...

in their campaign to abolish the

discriminatory Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sexu ...

fingerprinting A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

and photographing of foreign residents on their re-entry to Japan. In the aftermath of the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake, UTU has provided support to Nambu’s sister union, NUGW Tohoku.NUGW National Council
Solidarity visit to Tohoku, 2-3 April 2011.
Retrieved 4 June 2011 National Trade Union Council (''Zenrokyo'') May Day, 2011. On May 1, 2011, UTU members along with Nambu under the banner of the National Union of General Workers, participated in the

Hibiya Park Hibiya Park (, ) is a park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66 m2 (40 acres) between the east gardens of the Kōkyo, Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Kasumigaseki government distri ...

rally commemorating

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of Wage labour, labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every yea ...

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

''(see photo)''.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links